Jovesa Seuseu "Jojo" Naivalu (born 19 March 1978) is a Fiji-American athlete. In the sport of athletics, Naivalu is the Fiji national record holder in both the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hu ...

and the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

. He represented Fiji at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and the

1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Sydney, Australia on August 20–25. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1049 athletes from 142 cou ...

in the

. In the sport of

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

he represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

from 2000–2004 winning 10

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. He also represented the

in rugby sevens. During the 2008/09 season he played for Frankfurt SC in the

Rugby-Bundesliga The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of the league system for rugby union in Germany, organised by the German Rugby Federation. The league is predominantly amateur, with only one club in the league being officially a professional outfit, t ...

in Germany, making 15 appearances for the club.

Biography

Naivalu was born 19 March 1978 in Lautoka, Fiji. Naivalu moved to the United States in 1986. He competed for Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California, winning the

at the CIF California State Meet in 1995 and 1996. Naivalu was selected to the small Fiji 1996 Olympic team that year. The Olympic hurdles are 3" higher than they are in high school. Naivalu finished 6th in his qualifying heat in the

. Running hurdles he was used to, a month later he took a bronze medal at the

IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year ...

. The following year, he set the Fijian national record of 13.82 (+0.3) in the 110 metres hurdles in the qualifying round of the IAAF World Championships. He competed in the 1999 and 2003 (South)

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games wer ...

, winning the 110 hurdles and finishing second in the

, setting the national record 51.67 in the latter in 1999 at

Santa Rita, Guam Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

. He turned down a scholarship to the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Rugby

The Fiji Olympic Committee wasn't doling out money to support athletes, so Naivalu followed his brother Saimoni into the world of professional rugby, playing for the San Jose Seahawks. Still making a $300 a game, he had to work security for grocery stores to support himself.

Defilement and imprisonment

In May 2003, Naivalu was arrested for defiling his 16-year old girlfriend. He was charged and jailed for seven years. After being released from jail, he left for Fiji where he currently resides and coaches the Suva Grammar School athletics team for the Coke Games

Athletics achievements

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naivalu, Jovesa 1978 births Living people Olympic athletes for Fiji Commonwealth Games competitors for Fiji American male hurdlers Fijian male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Fijian rugby union players American rugby union players Rugby union wings United States international rugby union players Male rugby sevens players SC 1880 Frankfurt players Sportspeople from Sunnyvale, California Track and field athletes from San Jose, California Fijian emigrants to the United States American expatriate rugby union players Fijian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Track and field athletes from California United States international rugby sevens players Sportspeople from Lautoka American people of I-Taukei Fijian descent I-Taukei Fijian people